McDonald's Japan Promotes Burgers Made in Under 60 Seconds; Customers Unhappy with Sloppy Service

All through January, McDonald's Japan is running a promotion called "Enjoy! 60 Seconds Service" during which customers receive a coupon for a free burger if their burger isn't made in a minute or less. Every customer also receives a coupon for a small coffee. The promotion is only valid from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day and excludes certain burgers that take longer to make (the Quarter Pounder Cheese, Double Quarter Pounder Cheese, Mega Mac, and Texas Burger). Hourglasses on the counter keep track of the 60-second time limit, as seen in this video from Gigazine:

Those of us who aren't used to Japanese service may not think much of messy lettuce, misaligned buns and cheese, or a flatter-than-normal burger, but this isn't the norm in Japan. And a burger missing meat would be bad service anywhere.

Shortly after the start of the promotion, McDonald's sent out a memo of rules restricting what employees can say online in regards to McDonald's. RocketNews24 has a translation of the rules and points out that some of the rules seem intended to prevent employees from complaining about the promotion.

In response to the memo and in protest of McDonald's, thousands of tweets were made bearing the same message: "The Chicken Tatsuta is delicious! It's my favorite burger!" This message was taken from the original memo as an example of an approved comment.

The latest response to the "Enjoy! 60 Seconds Service" promotion comes from one outlet of rival Japanese burger chain Mos Burger (translation by RocketNews24): "Mos Burger cannot prepare your food in 60 seconds. However, in the time we take, we don't lose any love or taste."

I'm sure McDonald's is looking forward to the end of the month when the promotion ends.